Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige, Jr., Retired

After his U.S. Army retirement in 1988, Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr. became the president and chief operating officer of OAO Corporation, an aerospace engineering and information systems company in Greenbelt, Maryland. He left OAO in 1993, however, to serve as assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications and intelligence until 1997, when he returned to his previous position at OAO.

Paige began his extraordinary military career in 1947 by dropping out of high school and enlisting in the U.S. Army. He enrolled in the Signal Corps Officer Candidate School and received his commission in 1952. Paige went on to serve in various Signal Corps units, and in Korea he was responsible for all fixed plant communications serving the United Nations Command, U.S. Forces Korea, and the 8th Army. During the Vietnam War, he commanded the 361st Signal Battalion in Vietnam, and later, in Arizona, he commanded the 11th Signal Group. In 1976, he was promoted to brigadier general and was given command of both the U.S. Army Communications Systems Agency and the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Engineering and Installation Agency.

In 1979, Paige was promoted again and assumed leadership of the U.S. Army Communications Research and Development Command, and in 1981 he took charge of the U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Command. Paige was promoted to lieutenant general in 1984, and headed the U.S. Army Information Systems Command, where he served until his retirement. During his Army service, Paige received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.

He is a member of University of Maryland University College's Leadership Circle, a group whose charge is to raise funds for the university's military scholarship campaign.

Paige serves on numerous boards of directors and boards of advisors for corporate and academic organizations, including the National Association of Corporate Directors, the National Science Center, and the University System of Maryland Foundation.